Control apparatus



R. B. DRESCHER ET AL Nov. 28, 1950 CONTROL APPARATUS Filed March 1, 1945 Patented Nov. 28, 1950 CONTRQL APPARATUS Rowland B, Dresohe'n and Alfred Ci 'Wenzelj Chi catgo, 111."; assignors to- Republic" Flow: Meters -Eomnany, Chi'cagoJlL, a corporationof Illinois:

ApplioatfonMtilittih 1, 1945,Serial N. 580,422

(Cl. El 139) Gl'aims. 13; This invention; relates to control apparatus and; more particularly to apparatus for regulating valves or; the like to control flow pressure; or other s mil r cond t ns. 7

In; many control" applications, valves are used whiehrseat against'rubber or like nesilient seats to obtain'fididtig'ht seals", Imordertcrseat-and unseatsuc h valves a'large force is required to press them. 'nto their "resilientseats although injintermedijate "contjrolpositions, the valvesmav bemovedvwith a 'relativejl'ysmall force. It has hexet tmtehe nnecessaryto mpl v'l r e mot rs to seatjanct unseatthe valves andin the intermediatercontroli qsiti'ons of jth'e valve such motors; being oversize" .causeplfa waste of :power' and a slojwer valve movementthan is desirable."

It is mer iitlie qbie sqfjthe pr en inven ion in providea control? apparatus which produces.

multiplying mechanism, producing extremely large seatin'ggand nnseating pressures on the valve stillanother object is toprovide control mech nism n tw m to sare c ntr l d" on?- erate, successively so that one helps the other during only a selected portionofits movement. The above and: other objects and advantages f 'the nv ntion will e mo e r adily apparent from the following description whenread, in,

connectionwith the accompanying'drawing, in whi hfi F ure-ti is a diaerammati sid view are entral; annara us. odyin he invention and operating a butterfly type valve and Figure 2;? is a diagram of the control system or: the. motors of ieun 1..

As shown in, Fi ure 1,v the. inv n ionlis applied. athenontroloi a arse but rfly valve In: pivot d-- ne; sha t; 1 11 in. c nduit: l2 in which the pres.

ur flqw. or, the; likeJis to. beicontr ll d. QnQ itQ ZL am Qs. an annular seat. I 3 wh h y be qf rubber or like resilient materialiand' against whiehthe edges of the valve IE1" seat to close he; onduit i htly- It wilt. be ppreciated, th t" sinr ss edg spt thepvalve; firmlyiagainstt the; esilie ti at 1.3" ar e; orce sfl-req iired and a corresponding force is reqi ir'ed tomove the 'va1ve ment of thelever;

2% I away'from therseat clue'to the fie-wot the resilient material.

The valve is" moved through its an rangefof movement by a flni'dmotor coniprisin'g a cvlin der Wmounted adjacent theconduit having a piston slidable therein whose piston rod liisf pivotally" connected throug'h an adjustablelirilo lfifioonejend' ofanarm I 1 rigidly sec-iirew to the valveshaft It. The motor lfl may-be mad-e of relatively small size 'to supply only snmc'ie'nt power to move the valvethrough its intermedi'a e control range and insnfficient-to-force the valv'*- intothe seat [3. I

In order tQsuppIyadditionalseatingand ii'n' seating iorce' a second motor l Bfis 'piio'videdfin eluding a cylinder havinga piston thereimwhose piston rod t9 is connected through an adjnfstabl" f link Zl' 'tofone end" of a leverz2 pivoted 'at The oppositeend, of-"the lever is} yoked as ind sated at Zt'to receive one "end ofaseconclarm" which is rigidly connectew'tq'thevalve-shaft m. It will he noted that the everu: the yoke mechanism 24' and-"the arm- 25 provide a lafgei mechanical advantage for themotor [8 so that a, relatively small, motor can exert an extremely" large turning force on thevalveshaftd l The motors arecontrolledasindicatecl irTFiE- ure2 by" ab pilot valve- 2Pwhichis controlled in anyclesired manner asfor example-, by a-r'egiila; tor 2? responsive to the; condition in the pipe 12 The pilot valve; is connectedfto a supplyof actu ating flnid; such as air undenpressurethrough" a pipe 28 andto'theoppo'site ends of themotors l4 and 18' through pipes 2 a arid at? It will 'be' noted that the conheotionsytothe motors I 4 and [8 are crossed so that as" the piston rod. 45 *is moved upwardly the piston rod 1&9" will be moved downwardly and vibe versaL A three-wag valve; 32Eis connectedinthe pipe 31" betweenthe upper end of motor I8"andrth pilot valve andyis movalolefto one" position as shown in which it. establishes communication throughthe pipe and to a second position" which iti-vents the uppei end ofjthemoto I81 through an exhaust" port 33., Thepilotval've is controlled by a lever'34 pivotedat 35"a'ndcon f" nected tonne; pilot valve through a s ring; The spring 36"15 provided to prevent damage, t'o the pilot valve in the event of excessivem'ove The lever is formed intermediate its ends i'gvi a break-away mechanism shown as a pivotaPoo nectionwith "a A stop 3"! to limitpivotal -movem'ent in. one directionland' a; spring; 3,8 tourge the. tw parts oi theleveragainst the stopi Win, v

mechanism when both ends of the lever are moved upwardly, the spring 28 will yield to permit bending of the lever. The lever is normally urged clockwise about its pivot to the position shown by a spring 39.

The valve 32 is controlled by operation of the motors I4 and I8 and for this purpose the piston rod I5 is provided with a projection M to engage the left end of the lever while the piston rod l9 has a projection 42 to engage the right end of the lever. When the piston rod I5 is elevated as shown in Figure 2 it will tilt the lever 34 clockwise to move the pilot valve down to establish communication through the pipe 3|. When the piston rod ['9 is elevated, it will engage the right end of the lever to tilt it counter-clockwise and raise the pilot valve to vent the upper end of the motor [8.

The parts are shown in Figures 1 and 2 with the valve ID in its closed position. The piston rod 15 at this time is raised while the piston rod 19 is lowered so that the yoke 24 engages the arm 25 to exert a large closing pressure on the valve. To open the valve the pilot valve 26 will be raised to connect the inlet 28 through the pipe 29 to the upper end of the cylinder l4 and the lower end of the cylinder E8. The upper end of the cylinder I8 will be connected through the valve 32 and pipe 3| to exhaust and the lower end of the cylinder M will be connected directly through the pipe 3| and pilot valve 26 to exhaust. At this time the lever 22 will be turned counter-clockwise to urge the arm 25 clockwise with a large force tending to open the valve. By the time the valve has moved away from its seat, the yoke 24 will be tilted to a position where the arm 25 can move freely away from it and at this time the piston rod l9 will have reached substantially the upper limit of its travel and the piston rod l5 will have moved down slightly. In this position the piston rod i9 will engage the right end of the lever 3d and will raise the valve 32 so that the upper end of the cylinder I8 will be vented. The piston rod [9 will, therefore, be

held in its extreme upper position by pressure in v the lower part of cylinder l8 until the valve 32 and-the pilot valve 26 are reversed.

In this position of the parts, the valve I is under the sole control of the motor M which is of ample size to move it through its intermediate control ranges rapidly and efficiently.

When the valve is to be closed, the pilot valve 26 will be shifted up to connect the pressure line 28 to the lower end of the cylinder I l. It will be noted at this time that the valve 32 blocks the line 3| ahead of the upper end of cylinder I8 so that this cylinder is not afiected. The piston rod will, therefore, travel upwardly turning the valve ll! toward its closed position until the projection l! strikes the left end of the lever 34 and moves the valve 32 down to the position shown. 3 .During this latter operation the breakaway yields to permit the valve 32 to be moved even though the piston rod [9 remains in its uppermost position. At this time the valve H1 is substantially against its seat and the valve 32 connects the pipe 3| to the upper end of the cylinder l8 to supply fluid thereto. The piston rod l9, therefore, begins to move downwardly to rock the lever 22 clockwise so that the yoke 24 will engage the arm 25 and exert a large closing force thereon.

While one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail herein, it will be understood that this is illustrative only and is not intended as definition of the scope of the invention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Control apparatus for a valve or the like comprising a first motor operatively connected to the valve to move it in response to movement of the motor, a second motor, means moved by the second motor operatively engageable with the valve only when it is near its closed position, control means for the motors, and supplemental control means for the second motor operated by the first motor when it is near its valve closing position.

2. Control apparatus for a valve or the like comprising a first motor operatively connected to the valve to move it in response to movement of the motor, a second motor, a lever moved by the second motor having a yoked end, an operating arm for the valve adapted to fit in the yoked end when the valve is in substantially closed position whereby the second motor acts on the valve only during its final closing and initial opening movements, control means for the motors, and supplemental control means for the second motor to prevent it from being energized in a valve closing direction until the valve has reached a substantially closed position.

3. Control apparatus for a valve or the like comprising a first fluid motor operatively connected to the valve to move it substantially from closed to open position, ,a second fluid motor, means operatively connecting the second fluid motor to the valve only during final closing and initial opening movement thereof, control means for controlling supply and exhaust of operating fluid to the motors, and a supplemental control valve for the second fluid motor operated by the first fluid motor during final valve closing and initial valve opening movement.

4. Control apparatus for a valve or the like comprising a first fluid motor operatively connected to the valve to move it substantially from closed to open position, a second fluid motor, means operatively connecting the second fluid motor to the valve only during final closing and initial opening movement thereof, control means for controlling supply and exhaust of operating fiuid to the motors, a valve alternatel to connect one end of the second fluid motor to the control means or to exhaust, a pivoted beam controlling the valve, the first motor moving the beam to a position to connect the second motor to the control means when the first motor is substantially in its valve closing position, and the second motor moving the beam to connect the second motor to exhaust when the second motor is in its valve.

opening position.

5. Control apparatus for a valve or the like comprising a first fluid motor operatively connected to the valve to move it substantially from closed to open position, a second fluid motor, means operatively connecting the second fluid motor to the valve only during final closing and initial opening movement thereof, control means for controlling supply and exhaust of operating fluid to the motors, a valve alternately to connect one end of the second fluid motor to the control means or to exhaust, a pivoted beam controlling the valve, the first motor moving the beam to a position to connect the second motor to the control means when the first motor is substantially in its valve closing position, and the second motor moving the beam to connect the second motor to exhaust when the second motor is in its valve opening position, and a yielding connection in the beam whereby it can yield when the motors tend to urge it in opposite directions.

6. In combination with a valve having a resilient seat, control apparatus comprising a motor operatively connected to the valve, a second motor, a pivoted lever connected to the second motor and having a yoked end, an operating arm for the valve engageable with the yoked end when the valve is near its closed position whereby the second motor is effective to move the valve only during its final closing and initial opening movements, and control means for the motors.

'7. In combination with a Valve having a resilient seat, control apparatus comprising a motor operatively connected to the valve, a second motor, a pivoted lever connected to the second motor and having a yoked end, an operating arm for the valve engageable with the yoked end when the valve is near its closed position whereby the sec- 0nd motor is effective to move the valve only during its final closing and initial opening movements, means to control energizing of the motors, and means to prevent energizing of the second motor until the valve has substantially reached its closed position.

8. In combination with a valve having a resilient seat, control apparatus comprising a first motor operatively connected to the valve to move it substantially from its closed to its open position, a second motor, and force multiplying means connecting the second motor to the valve only when the valve is substantially closed whereby the second motor is efiective to apply a large seating and unseatin-g force to the valve.

9. In a control apparatus a pair of fluid motors, a control valve connected to the opposite ends of the motors and adjustable to two positions to control supply of fluid thereto and exhaust of fluid therefrom to cause the motors to move in opposite directions, a three-way valve in one of the connections movable to a first position to establish flow through the connection and to a second position to vent one end of one of the motors, means operated by said one of the motors when it approaches the limit of its movement in response to adjustment of the control valve to one position to move the three-way valve to its second position, and means operated by the other of the motors as it approaches the limit of its travel in response to adjustment of the control valve to its other position to move the three-way valve to its first position.

10. In a control apparatus a pair of fluid motors, a control valve connected to the opposite ends of the motors and adjusted to two positions to control supply of fluid thereto and exhaust oi fluid therefrom to cause the motors to move in opposite directions, a three-way valve in one of the connections movable to a first position to establish flow through the connection and to a second position to vent one end of one of the motors, and a pivoted lever connected to the three-way valve to operate it, said one of the motors engaging the lever to move the three-way valve to its second position as the motor approaches the limit of its travel in response to adjustment of the control valve to one position and the other of the motors engaging the lever to move the three-way valve to its first position as the motor approaches the limit of its movement in response to adjustment of the control valve to its other position.

ROWLAND B. DRESCHER.

ALFRED C. WENZEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,184,057 Parker Dec. 19, 1937 2,307,544 Robinson Jan. 5,v 1943 2,379,536 Mackenzie July 3,. 1945 

